Activities

The ASEAN-Korea Centre organized the 2018 ASEAN-Korea Youth Innovation Forum under the theme of “Entrepreneurship to Improve the Lives of ASEAN and Korean People,” on 12 November 2018 at the Hanra Hall (3F) of Seoul Dragon City, Korea. With the aim to inspire the youth to navigate through the opportunities in the field of entrepreneurship, the Forum gathered around 300 ASEAN and Korean youths in Korea. Experience-sharing of successful young entrepreneurs as well as startup idea presentations by 11 highly qualified finalist teams from the 2018 ASEAN-Korea Startup Idea Competition was featured at the Forum.

Held during the Global Entrepreneurship Week Korea 2018 (GEW Korea 2018), the Forum was jointly organized by Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG), Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), and Korea Entrepreneurship Foundation (KoEF) and supported by ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN Foundation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of SMEs and Startups of the Republic of Korea.

Following the Opening Ceremony, the ASEAN-Korea Young Innovators Talk featured speeches by successful young entrepreneurs from ASEAN and Korea with the theme of Making Better Lives through Innovation. CEO of Innopresso, Cho Eunhyung Jeff, who created “Mokibo,” a touchpad embedded keyboard, shared his story about minimizing inconvenience in our daily lives through creative innovation, while Co-Founder of Seniors and Youth (SAY), Quan Quan Quan Nguyen, presented his experiences in establishing the online language-learning edutech start-up. The session was followed by the panel discussion led by the moderator, Yoon Il-seon, Consultant of Born2Global Center.

In the Startup Idea Pitching session, 11 finalist teams out of 279 submissions from the 2018 ASEAN-Korea Startup Idea Competition, which was held for the first time this year as a preliminary program, presented their ideas to venture capitalists and their friends from ASEAN and Korea. The finalists from 10 ASEAN Member States and Korea invited to pitch at the Forum are as following:

3 top scorers were awarded based on the evaluation of the panel of judges and onsite electronic votes. Indonesian company Brainstat Group won the Gold Prize, Cambodian CHHLAT won the Silver Prize, and the Filipino and Malaysian company Phinix won the Bronze prize. In addition, the Most Popular Award was also granted to the team with the most popular votes from the audience, and Laotian company Korkkaek won the very prize. Winners received USD 1,000 (Gold, 1st Place), USD 800 (Silver, 2nd Place), USD 500 (Bronze, 3rd Place), and USD 500 (Most Popular from Onsite Voting), respectively.